I write this tonight out of a thankful heart for you guys believing in what we do.  I have been in the “ministry” for 30 years and I do not what to persuade you with these stories that always seem to be told, but my heart is breaking tonight. My wife Tonya, who is a Registered Nurse at the top hospital in Florida (Tampa General), came home tonight in tears. She took care of a 14 year old boy that tried to commit suicide by putting a 12 gauge shotgun to his face. He pulled the trigger and is still alive. He managed to blow his face off, but is still alive for a reason. I listened as my wife told me and my oldest son the story of how this kid thought his life did not matter and he had nothing to live for.

I know the older I get the more emotional I become, but I have not stopped weeping for this kid. I thought about all the kids that hear the gospel because we are out there pushing the church to take the gospel to the schools.  Our students’ foundational need is hope.  The Hope of Christ in Every Student!  It’s spiritual, not anything else.

Tonight I am dealing with a burden in my soul of the hopelessness of students in our country. I am also heart crushed that we have a ministry leader that walked away from a 300K job to do First Priority and now his wife has cheated on him and left him. The devil is alive and well and trying to bind us. Sometimes I get down and depressed, and wonder if anyone cares.   Sometime I feel like we are losing the battle, but I know that Jesus already won the war!  So I keep on.  Thank you for having the heart, desire, and courage to step up to unite the church to influence the schools.  This is a lonely adventure without you all.

I think of you all that have invested and prayed for us.  I would love to say that all is well and things are going great.  The reality is that in First Priority, it is not pretty. We have been filling out our goals template today and were a little disappointed in some of the categories, but I realized it is Zechariah 4:6 where it says, “So he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty”.  In John 3:27, John the baptist helps us realize, “A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven”.  We will press on to see  you lead your community, organizing the churches to help students reach students at school.

Please keep fishing!

Mark Roberts

“The reality is that when you get busy doing the things that matter to you, you actually have more time to do the things you love and less time to do the things you like.”  Jon Acuff in his book Quitter.

Cory in Flagler said it this way, “I have spent my life walking the beach and picking up shells.  The shells represent great things that I enjoy doing.  But then I came across my starfish and i knew that this was my life’s calling.  But my hands were full of shells.  In order to pick up my starfish, i had to put down some shells.”  He finished the illustration by saying, “When First Priority came along, I knew it was what God had been preparing me for.  But I had a lot of other things going on. I had to give up a few responsibilities with my church youth group and adult ministries.  I had to clean up my personal life as I was also getting ready to be engaged to my future wife.  But I knew it was worth it to be able to hold First Priority.”

A successful businessman wanted to take his company to the next level, so he brought in the best consultant money could offer.  A very simple strategy is what he left with the businessman.  When asked for the bill for the consulting, the consultant said, “Wait six months, implement the strategy, and send me a check for what it is worth to you”.  Six and a half months later the consultant got a check for $10,000.

Here is the strategy the consultant left: Each night before you go to bed, write down the three top priorities for First Priority tomorrow, the three “if I did nothing else today but these three things and I would be successful” things.  Then, when you wake up, you know what you need to do.

Now, if you aren’t full time FP, and you have a wife, three kids, two dogs, and a job and a half, then maybe you write down on Sunday the three things for the week.  But, the results are still the same.

This is why we have redone our Phase process to simplify launching a new First Priority movement.  Whether this is your first week reading or you’ve been around for a year, here are the three things for today:

1. Pray and Fast

2. Learn First Priority

3. Build a Team

Very straightforward.  Probably not going to be done in a day.  But if you stick with these three for a month, you will be on your way to seeing students reach students at school for years to come.

In Christ,

Brad Schelling

Who: First Priority Staff, Spouses, and Ministry Leaders

What: Cross Training, FP Leadership, FP Swag, Good Food, Great Conversations, The Gulf Shore Beach

 Where: Gulf Shore Beach Retreat Center – Gulf Shores, AL

How much: $80 per person includes all meals, housing, swag, and leadership materials

Options: ***FPOA Covenant Participating Communities retreat fees included in 2013 covenant giving

Monday Morning Golf – $75

Tuesday Private Boat Deep Sea Fishing – $100

Everyday walks on the Gulf Shore Beach – FREE

Register HERE.

You are reading this because God has burdened your heart for the students in your community. Your adventure with First Priority is based on the book of Nehemiah and we highly recommend you study through that book.

The Call of God on Your Life:
The walls and gates of Jerusalem had been torn down for over seventy years. During those seventy years, there were probably hundreds, maybe even thousands of people who thought to themselves or said to a friend, “We need to fix these walls.”

How many times has it been said in our country that, “We need to reach these schools?” Everyone in the church would agree with the statement and might even go so far as to try to do something about it, but they get busy with all their other obligations and it becomes just another great idea. Many churches are doing good things, but nobody is organizing them all to share the hope of Christ with every student. Like in Nehemiah’s example, if there is not a person waking up every day to organize the work, it will not happen.

When Nehemiah inquired about the Jewish remnant and the conditions of the city and was told of the situation, he was moved to tears. Nehemiah 1:4, “When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.”

The difference between all of the thousands who had seen the condition of the walls and Nehemiah was that Nehemiah was burdened. He was burdened to the point that he spent days fasting and praying to God. If you are similiarly burdened, fast and pray.

We tell others who are thinking about starting First Priority in their community to pray, familiarize themselves with First Priority, and with the conditions of their community. If they can’t sleep, then it is a good indication that God is calling them to do something about it! We like to call it the “sleep test.”

The call of God to unite your community and reach students is very important. This is no easy task! If it were easy, someone else would have already done it. There will be very hard times and a lot of frustrating moments, but the call God places on your life is what will keep you keeping on.

There is Hope,
The FPoA Team

As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. And I said, “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants.

Nehemiah 1:4-6

First Priority Retreat

April 29 – May 1

Gulf Shores Beach Retreat Center

1054 Beach Blvd

Gulf Shores, AL

Join us Monday afternoon through Wednesday noon to rub shoulders and sit at the pool with other First Priority leaders from around the country.  From leaders who are thinking about starting First Priority new in their community to the tried and tenured veterans, these few days will be a time of encouragement and renewal for everyone.  There are also several options for additional activities including golf and deep sea fishing.

Register HERE.

As the Intiator of First Priority in your community you take the role of Nehemiah. 

In the first chapter of Nehemiah, you may notice that Nehemiah is burdened because he became aware of the condition of the city and the people of Jerusalem.

• He mourned, wept, prayed and fasted for days.
• He prayed for favor and an opportunity to share this with the king.
• He was given the opportunity to ask the king and queen for what he needed to accomplish the task.
• He surveyed the condition of the city with a team of people and they said, “Lets rebuild.”
• Nehemiah organized the people to work on their section of the wall.

God has made you aware of the conditions of the schools and students in your community. Have you mourned, prayed, wept, and fasted for them? He will give you an opportunity to influence the community of believers!

Will you take on the role of Nehemiah? 

Praying with and for you,

Brad Schelling

FPOA Director of Expansion

It was early. 7:10 a.m. to be exact.  I was sitting there, there being a middle school library.  School had not yet begun, but students were starting to walk the halls.  As more people rolled in, so did two boxes of donuts and two ladies.  The ladies were the First Priority faculty sponsor and campus coach.  It was the First Priority morning.  Focus week was upon us.  This is the week where students ask each other the standard questions: What are you learning in Church? How can I help you in your walk of faith? What is God doing in your life? Who are you inviting to Hook Week to hear the gospel of Jesus?

As the campus coach started the meeting, she asked the question, “We had D-now this past weekend.  Many of you were there.  What did you learn?”  Silence.  One 13-year-old boy was volunteered by a few friends so he got up and started talking.  Talking about what they ate, when they went skating, how they got in trouble for doorbell ditching later.  Laugh, laugh.  High fives all around.

A few other students shared. Each a little deeper than the last. Thoughts were good.  It was evident that God was moving in the students’ lives.  Then silence hit again. The campus coach began winding the meeting down, reminding students of next week and what the student leaders were planning. As she spoke, the first boy walked up behind her and whispered something into her ear.  She finished her thought and gave the floor back to him.  He looked off to the left, into the distance and began to talk.  Shared from his heart about his life. He shared about his home life and the influence his older sister and friends had on him.  Of being out late and doing what they did.  Drugs. Drinking, Cutting. Girls.  Being taken from his home and going to live with his grandpa. Grandpa passing away.  Thoughts of suicide. Going into foster care. Did I mention he is now 13 years old? Then, last September, God intervened in his life. He didn’t share the details, but he did share the hope he now has.  We saw the brotherhood that laughed with him before surround him with hugs and words as tears streamed down their faces. Did I mention these are 13-year-old boys?  Did I mention that this was in the open library as the student body walked by entering school for the day?  Do I need to remind you that God is alive and well in the lives of our students? How about that students influence students?  That by giving God a place in the school that Jesus will do his great work?

The spiritual lives of our students are broken. Someone needs to help organize the churches in the area so that God can do his great work, much like Ezekiel when God showed him the valley of dry bones.  Could God have given them life all on his own?  Yes!  Did he?  No.  He asked Ezekiel to be a part.  He wants to use his people to bring life to the spiritually dead.  Will you be the one in your community?

Until the Hope of Christ in Every Student,

Brad Schelling

Director of Expansion

First Priority of America

In my community group this week, we began to talk about evangelism and the tension between grace and truth which somehow led into friendship evangelism vs. door-to-door evangelism.  Friendship evangelism is good, because most non-believers only develop a curiosity about Jesus when they know and trust someone who believes in Jesus.  Often, however, that is as far as friendship evangelism goes. The love, life, and death of Jesus rarely gets shared.  Then there is the door-to-door approach of finding a stranger on the street and sharing the information found in the four spiritual laws or the Romans Road to salvation.  There was no relationship there, but a process in a believer’s head with the hope that God has the other person ready to hear it.  As they debated and discussed, honestly I felt bored with it.  As we traveled home and I finished the night painting in our girls’ bedroom, it came to me: First Priority is the perfect union of those two opposing strategies to sharing faith.  First, students trust students.  There are believing students on most sports teams at the local school.  The believers are also on the student council, in the band, traveling with the debate team, etc.  What’s my point?  The non-believers in those groups trust the believers in those groups.  They’ve spent time together and trust each other.  That is the first step to friendship evangelism.  The second step is to actually talk about spiritual things.  That is where First Priority comes in.  We all get intimidated when we have to do something for the first time.  Especially by ourselves.  What if we brought the believing students at the school together to create an environment to talk Jesus and share the gospel with the non-believers who trust them?

First Priority of America’s goal is to see the Hope of Christ in Every Student.  We do that by Uniting the Local Body of Christ with a Plan of Action to Influence the School with the Gospel.  My point?  I want you to know that by coordinating a new First Priority movement in your area that thousands of lives will be changed because it works.  Students Reach Students.  The Good News of Jesus Christ is powerful and effective.  Take those two points to 3-5 churches this month and start a movement that will change eternity.

Brad Schelling

Director of Expansion

First Priority of America

As 2013 approaches, we wanted to make you aware of 

FIRSTPRIORITY Training:

A one day overview of FP and how to launch in your community!

March 14 in Decatur, AL from 7AM – 3PM

     Come check out a premier F.P. community and see it happens first hand.

Come early and check out an experienced club in action!

Spend the day with FP staff to learn and grow in bringing a community together.

April 30 in Gulf Shore Retreat Center, AL from 9AM – 4PM

Join us at our Director’s Retreat to rub shoulders with those who have done this for years.  Gain wisdom and experience from those in the trenches.

October 2 in Atlanta, GA from 9AM – 4PM

Join us a day before Catalyst Atlanta then spend a couple of days sharpening your leadership skills from the best in the country at Catalyst East.

CONFERENCES we will be at:

Leadership Rocks events: www.leadershiprocks.com

Dallas, TX – 2/21

Memphis – 3/8-9

Student Life Conferences: www.studentlife.com

Birmingham, AL – 1/25-26

Houston, TX – 2/1-2

Arlington, TX – 2/8-9

Orlando, FL – 2/15-16

Memphis,TN – 2/22-23

Asheville, NC – 3/1-2

Atlanta, GA – 3/8-9